January 15-25, 2015 - Kinky Boots @ Fisher Theatre
Kinky Boots at the Fisher Theater, Detroit
Review by Robert Powell and Michele Kotlarsky
Detroit Metro Mashup
Four-time Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein and Grammy® Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper's (Tony Award-winner for Best Score for Kinky Boots) musical production Kinky Boots is playing at the Fisher theater in Detroit. Detroit Metro Mashup had the privilege of getting to see this production and review it. Lauper is a long time contributor to musical progress, with decades of accomplishment behind her. This musical will surely stand as one of the great accomplishments of her career, as evidenced by her Tony Award for best score. *Kinky Boots* manages to entertain with laughter and beauty as well as having moments of deep emotion that touch all of us due to our undoubtedly shared human experiences, particularly those with our parents.
The musical opens in a century-old shoe manufacturing factory in Northampton England and the singing and dancing begins right away. The opening number sings the praises of shoes and how "the shoes make the man." The emphasis is on the elder owner of the factory singing to his son Charlie about how wonderful shoes are and how magnificent high quality shoes make a person feel. Simultaneously other children are interacting with their fathers, who are attempting to influence them in the matters their fathers thinks are befitting.
Now we flash-forward in time to the point where the children are adults. Charlie and his fiancée have moved to London to seek opportunities beyond shoe manufacturing. Shortly after they arrive Charlie receives news of his father's death, so he rushes back to Northampton to attend his father's burial. While there he is set upon by the workers at the factory, adamant about having him take over where his father left off. As you might expect, this is the point at which Charlie's life begins to take dramatic twists and turns that were not part of his plan, including meeting the fabulous drag queen Lola and the germination of thoughts in his mind about how to save his father's shoe factory, as his friendship with her and awareness of her transvestite lifestyle begins to alter his life.
I'm not going to ruin the play for anyone by relating more of the story. But I will tell you that this was one of the most fun musicals or plays we've ever attended in the Detroit area, be it at the Detroit Opera House or the Fisher theater.
Lauper's musical score was both dramatic and powerful, while being serene where it needed to be. The surround-sound audio at the Fisher theater was dynamic and amazingly well coordinated to suit the acoustics of the building, as well as the requirements of this musical.
The singing was dynamic and so well done that I found myself looking to determine whether it was coming from a pre-recorded version of the show. I couldn't see any microphones on any of the singers and dancers but, if it was lip-synching, it was the best lip-synching I've ever seen because there didn't appear to be any miscues between their lips and the music coming from the sound system. I finally concluded that as amazing as it was, they had to be singing it live. In addition to the quality of the music, the dancing was spot on; it was some of the most precise dancing I have seen on the stage and it had dramatic dancing special effects, including conveyor belts moving the dancers, that really piqued my imagination.
If you are a fan of musicals this is one you surely don't want to miss. Kinky Boots runs at Detroit's Fisher theater in the famous Fisher building in the New Center from January 15 – 25, 2015. For more information, please see the official press release below.
From the press release:
"DETROIT, MI, November 12, 2014 -- Kinky Boots, the smash-hit musical that brings together four-time Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (Book) and Grammy® Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper (Tony Award-winner for Best Score for Kinky Boots), will appear at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre, January 15-25, 2015. Tickets are now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 1-800-982-2787, online at www.broadwayindetroit.com or www.ticketmaster.com and at the Fisher Theatre box office.
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots opened on Broadway April 4, 2013 and continues to play to standing-room-only crowds nightly. The show, which has broken all box office records at the Hirschfeld Theatre, recouped its costs in October 2013, after just 30 weeks on Broadway.
DETROIT, MI, November 12, 2014 -- Kinky Boots, the smash-hit musical that brings together four-time Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (Book) and Grammy® Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper (Tony Award-winner for Best Score for Kinky Boots), will appear at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre, January 15-25, 2015. Tickets are now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 1-800-982-2787, online at www.broadwayindetroit.com or www.ticketmaster.com and at the Fisher Theatre box office.
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots opened on Broadway April 4, 2013 and continues to play to standing-room-only crowds nightly. The show, which has broken all box office records at the Hirschfeld Theatre, recouped its costs in October 2013, after just 30 weeks on Broadway.
Kinky Boots took home six 2013 Tony Awards, the most of any show in the season, including Best Musical, Best Score (Cyndi Lauper), Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell), Best Orchestrations (Stephen Oremus) and Best Sound Design (John Shivers). The show also received the Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Broadway.com Awards for Best Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Album, along with many other accolades.
In Kinky Boots, Charlie Price has reluctantly inherited his father’s shoe factory, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Trying to live up to his father’s legacy and save his family business, Charlie finds inspiration in the form of Lola. A fabulous entertainer in need of some sturdy stilettos, Lola turns out to be the one person who can help Charlie become the man he’s meant to be. As they work to turn the factory around, this unlikely pair finds that they have more in common than they ever dreamed possible… and discovers that when you change your mind about someone, you can change your whole world.
Kyle Taylor Parker (Kinky Boots, In the Heights national tour) plays the role of Lola. Kyle was one of the Angels in the original Broadway company as well as the Lola understudy. Steven Booth (Avenue Q, Glory Days, Dogfight) stars as shoe factory owner Charlie Price. Parker and Booth are joined by Lindsay Nicole Chambers (Hairspray, Legally Blonde, Lysistrata Jones) as Lauren, Joe Coots (TV’s “Inside Amy Schumer,” Full Monty national tour) as Don, Craig Waletzko (Guys & Dolls, Young Frankenstein) as George and Grace Stockdale in her touring debut as Nicola.
Rounding out the ensemble are Damien Brett, Stephen Carrasco, Lauren Nicole Chapman, Amelia Cormack, Troi Gaines, J. Harrison Ghee, Blair Goldberg, Darius Harper, Andrew Theo Johnson, Crystal Kellogg, Jeffrey Kishinevskiy, Jeff Kuhr, Ross Lekites, Patty Lohr, Mike Longo, Tommy Martinez, David McDonald, Nick McGough, Bonnie Milligan, Anthony Picarello, Horace V. Rogers, Ricky Schroeder, Anne Tolpegin, Juan Torres-Falcon, Hernando Umana and Sam Zeller.
The design team for Kinky Boots includes Tony® Award nominee David Rockwell (Scenic Design), Tony® Award-winner Gregg Barnes (Costume Design), Tony Award-winner Kenneth Posner (Lighting Design), Tony® Award-winner John Shivers (Sound Design), Josh Marquette (Hair Design), Randy Houston Mercer (Make-up Design), Telsey + Company, Justin Huff, CSA (Casting), Adam Souza (Musical Direction), with Musical Supervision and Arrangements and Orchestrations by Tony and Grammy Award-winner Stephen Oremus.
Kinky Boots is produced on Broadway and on tour by Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig, James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Independent Presenters Network, CJ E&M, Jayne Baron Sherman, Just for Laughs Theatricals/Judith Ann Abrams, Yasuhiro Kawana, Jane Bergere, Allan S. Gordon & Adam S. Gordon, Ken Davenport, Hunter Arnold, Lucy and Phil Suarez, Bryan Bantry, Ron Fierstein and Dorsey Regal, Jim Kierstead/Gregory Rae, BB Group/Christina Papagjika, Michael DeSantis/Patrick Baugh, Brian Smith/Tom and Connie Walsh, Warren Trepp and Jujamcyn Theaters.
For more information:
www.kinkybootsthemusical.com
www.twitter.com/KinkyBootsBway
www.facebook.com/KinkyBootsBway
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE January 15-25, 2015
Thursday, Jan. 15 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Friday, Jan. 16 8:00 pm
Saturday, Jan. 17 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Sunday, Jan. 18 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm
Monday, Jan. 19* 8:00 pm
Tuesday, Jan. 20 8:00 pm
Wednesday, Jan. 21 8:00 pm
Thursday, Jan. 22 8:00 pm
Friday, Jan. 23 8:00 pm
Saturday, Jan. 24 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Sunday, Jan. 25 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm
* Open Captioned Performance
Tickets for Kinky Boots range from $35 - $95 (includes parking and facility fees) and now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 1-800-982-2787, online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.broadwayindetroit.com and at the Fisher Theatre box office. Tickets for the Open Captioned performance may be purchased in person at the Fisher Theatre box office or by phone at 313-872-1000, ext. 0. A limited number of premium seats will be available through Ticketmaster and at the box office. For group sales (12 or more) please email groups@broadwayindetroit.com or call (313) 871-1132. Performance schedule, prices and cast are subject to change without notice.
The Broadway In Detroit Series at the Fisher Theatre is sponsored by Chrysler. As part of this sponsorship, the latest and hottest Chrysler vehicles will be on display at the theatre.
For more information, please visit www.BroadwayInDetroit.com. Follow Broadway in Detroit on Facebook and on Twitter @BroadwayDetroit.
To view formatted PDF with photos see this link
Review by Robert Powell and Michele Kotlarsky
Detroit Metro Mashup
Four-time Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein and Grammy® Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper's (Tony Award-winner for Best Score for Kinky Boots) musical production Kinky Boots is playing at the Fisher theater in Detroit. Detroit Metro Mashup had the privilege of getting to see this production and review it. Lauper is a long time contributor to musical progress, with decades of accomplishment behind her. This musical will surely stand as one of the great accomplishments of her career, as evidenced by her Tony Award for best score. *Kinky Boots* manages to entertain with laughter and beauty as well as having moments of deep emotion that touch all of us due to our undoubtedly shared human experiences, particularly those with our parents.
The musical opens in a century-old shoe manufacturing factory in Northampton England and the singing and dancing begins right away. The opening number sings the praises of shoes and how "the shoes make the man." The emphasis is on the elder owner of the factory singing to his son Charlie about how wonderful shoes are and how magnificent high quality shoes make a person feel. Simultaneously other children are interacting with their fathers, who are attempting to influence them in the matters their fathers thinks are befitting.
Now we flash-forward in time to the point where the children are adults. Charlie and his fiancée have moved to London to seek opportunities beyond shoe manufacturing. Shortly after they arrive Charlie receives news of his father's death, so he rushes back to Northampton to attend his father's burial. While there he is set upon by the workers at the factory, adamant about having him take over where his father left off. As you might expect, this is the point at which Charlie's life begins to take dramatic twists and turns that were not part of his plan, including meeting the fabulous drag queen Lola and the germination of thoughts in his mind about how to save his father's shoe factory, as his friendship with her and awareness of her transvestite lifestyle begins to alter his life.
I'm not going to ruin the play for anyone by relating more of the story. But I will tell you that this was one of the most fun musicals or plays we've ever attended in the Detroit area, be it at the Detroit Opera House or the Fisher theater.
Lauper's musical score was both dramatic and powerful, while being serene where it needed to be. The surround-sound audio at the Fisher theater was dynamic and amazingly well coordinated to suit the acoustics of the building, as well as the requirements of this musical.
The singing was dynamic and so well done that I found myself looking to determine whether it was coming from a pre-recorded version of the show. I couldn't see any microphones on any of the singers and dancers but, if it was lip-synching, it was the best lip-synching I've ever seen because there didn't appear to be any miscues between their lips and the music coming from the sound system. I finally concluded that as amazing as it was, they had to be singing it live. In addition to the quality of the music, the dancing was spot on; it was some of the most precise dancing I have seen on the stage and it had dramatic dancing special effects, including conveyor belts moving the dancers, that really piqued my imagination.
If you are a fan of musicals this is one you surely don't want to miss. Kinky Boots runs at Detroit's Fisher theater in the famous Fisher building in the New Center from January 15 – 25, 2015. For more information, please see the official press release below.
From the press release:
"DETROIT, MI, November 12, 2014 -- Kinky Boots, the smash-hit musical that brings together four-time Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (Book) and Grammy® Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper (Tony Award-winner for Best Score for Kinky Boots), will appear at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre, January 15-25, 2015. Tickets are now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 1-800-982-2787, online at www.broadwayindetroit.com or www.ticketmaster.com and at the Fisher Theatre box office.
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots opened on Broadway April 4, 2013 and continues to play to standing-room-only crowds nightly. The show, which has broken all box office records at the Hirschfeld Theatre, recouped its costs in October 2013, after just 30 weeks on Broadway.
DETROIT, MI, November 12, 2014 -- Kinky Boots, the smash-hit musical that brings together four-time Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (Book) and Grammy® Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper (Tony Award-winner for Best Score for Kinky Boots), will appear at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre, January 15-25, 2015. Tickets are now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 1-800-982-2787, online at www.broadwayindetroit.com or www.ticketmaster.com and at the Fisher Theatre box office.
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots opened on Broadway April 4, 2013 and continues to play to standing-room-only crowds nightly. The show, which has broken all box office records at the Hirschfeld Theatre, recouped its costs in October 2013, after just 30 weeks on Broadway.
Kinky Boots took home six 2013 Tony Awards, the most of any show in the season, including Best Musical, Best Score (Cyndi Lauper), Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell), Best Orchestrations (Stephen Oremus) and Best Sound Design (John Shivers). The show also received the Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Broadway.com Awards for Best Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Album, along with many other accolades.
In Kinky Boots, Charlie Price has reluctantly inherited his father’s shoe factory, which is on the verge of bankruptcy. Trying to live up to his father’s legacy and save his family business, Charlie finds inspiration in the form of Lola. A fabulous entertainer in need of some sturdy stilettos, Lola turns out to be the one person who can help Charlie become the man he’s meant to be. As they work to turn the factory around, this unlikely pair finds that they have more in common than they ever dreamed possible… and discovers that when you change your mind about someone, you can change your whole world.
Kyle Taylor Parker (Kinky Boots, In the Heights national tour) plays the role of Lola. Kyle was one of the Angels in the original Broadway company as well as the Lola understudy. Steven Booth (Avenue Q, Glory Days, Dogfight) stars as shoe factory owner Charlie Price. Parker and Booth are joined by Lindsay Nicole Chambers (Hairspray, Legally Blonde, Lysistrata Jones) as Lauren, Joe Coots (TV’s “Inside Amy Schumer,” Full Monty national tour) as Don, Craig Waletzko (Guys & Dolls, Young Frankenstein) as George and Grace Stockdale in her touring debut as Nicola.
Rounding out the ensemble are Damien Brett, Stephen Carrasco, Lauren Nicole Chapman, Amelia Cormack, Troi Gaines, J. Harrison Ghee, Blair Goldberg, Darius Harper, Andrew Theo Johnson, Crystal Kellogg, Jeffrey Kishinevskiy, Jeff Kuhr, Ross Lekites, Patty Lohr, Mike Longo, Tommy Martinez, David McDonald, Nick McGough, Bonnie Milligan, Anthony Picarello, Horace V. Rogers, Ricky Schroeder, Anne Tolpegin, Juan Torres-Falcon, Hernando Umana and Sam Zeller.
The design team for Kinky Boots includes Tony® Award nominee David Rockwell (Scenic Design), Tony® Award-winner Gregg Barnes (Costume Design), Tony Award-winner Kenneth Posner (Lighting Design), Tony® Award-winner John Shivers (Sound Design), Josh Marquette (Hair Design), Randy Houston Mercer (Make-up Design), Telsey + Company, Justin Huff, CSA (Casting), Adam Souza (Musical Direction), with Musical Supervision and Arrangements and Orchestrations by Tony and Grammy Award-winner Stephen Oremus.
Kinky Boots is produced on Broadway and on tour by Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig, James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Independent Presenters Network, CJ E&M, Jayne Baron Sherman, Just for Laughs Theatricals/Judith Ann Abrams, Yasuhiro Kawana, Jane Bergere, Allan S. Gordon & Adam S. Gordon, Ken Davenport, Hunter Arnold, Lucy and Phil Suarez, Bryan Bantry, Ron Fierstein and Dorsey Regal, Jim Kierstead/Gregory Rae, BB Group/Christina Papagjika, Michael DeSantis/Patrick Baugh, Brian Smith/Tom and Connie Walsh, Warren Trepp and Jujamcyn Theaters.
For more information:
www.kinkybootsthemusical.com
www.twitter.com/KinkyBootsBway
www.facebook.com/KinkyBootsBway
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE January 15-25, 2015
Thursday, Jan. 15 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Friday, Jan. 16 8:00 pm
Saturday, Jan. 17 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Sunday, Jan. 18 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm
Monday, Jan. 19* 8:00 pm
Tuesday, Jan. 20 8:00 pm
Wednesday, Jan. 21 8:00 pm
Thursday, Jan. 22 8:00 pm
Friday, Jan. 23 8:00 pm
Saturday, Jan. 24 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm
Sunday, Jan. 25 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm
* Open Captioned Performance
Tickets for Kinky Boots range from $35 - $95 (includes parking and facility fees) and now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 1-800-982-2787, online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.broadwayindetroit.com and at the Fisher Theatre box office. Tickets for the Open Captioned performance may be purchased in person at the Fisher Theatre box office or by phone at 313-872-1000, ext. 0. A limited number of premium seats will be available through Ticketmaster and at the box office. For group sales (12 or more) please email groups@broadwayindetroit.com or call (313) 871-1132. Performance schedule, prices and cast are subject to change without notice.
The Broadway In Detroit Series at the Fisher Theatre is sponsored by Chrysler. As part of this sponsorship, the latest and hottest Chrysler vehicles will be on display at the theatre.
For more information, please visit www.BroadwayInDetroit.com. Follow Broadway in Detroit on Facebook and on Twitter @BroadwayDetroit.
To view formatted PDF with photos see this link
